George A Barnard CO Inc

Had gutters installed. Gutter corners were not sealed properly upon installation. Several visits to “fix” leaking corners occurred last year when the weather was warm. Now we are in a freeze/thaw cycle and one corner is leaking again, all over the entry to the house, creating an ice hazard. Not cool! Was assured by the person in charge of the job that it was all fixed after the fourth or fifth visit. Apparently you can’t fix a job that was botched at the start. And by the way, this is a 20 year customer with a slate roof. Had been satisfied up until this job. Have found a new company.

If they are not interested, why bother even coming out to see the job.

In March we were sent a bill for work done in January (over $2000). We hadn't scheduled any work, nor had we received an estimate prior work had been done until receiving the bill in the mail. This past week we had the work inspected by a third party. The third party informed us that the work done was at a satisfactory level, and a reasonable price range (reasonable being $2K-$3K). After the inspection, I sent Barnard a check in the mail.

No work was done, except that when Terry was up looking at the roof, he saw a hole, came back down, got a piece of copper and went back up and patched it!! Their many years of experience guided us to making the tough decisions we had in front of us. They did not have time to fit us in this year and we needed a new roof this year. They also supplied us with a person who could do the work and we were very pleased with their suggestion.

We were thrilled with the quality of work done. The work is both excellent and beautiful. I find myself looking up at the roof to admire the bright flashing. The neighbors took notice of the excellent work too. I'm sure that they had not planned to spend so much time on the site. But they never charged more than the original estimate. In addition to making those repairs, they also made a few minor repairs as they went along. There are many things to highly recommend this company. The first is longevity. Most roofing companies do not last for generations. They only get that way by doing quality work and paying close attention to detail. Second, in this area, they are known for their expertise and commitment to preservation of historic buildings. Third, Whitney, Walter and crew are knowledgeable, personable, friendly and a pleasure to work with. Finally, and for us, the most critical point--more than the quality of work that they performed--was the work they said did not need to be performed for another ten years. As excellent as their work is, and we are thrilled with their work, this point needs to be made. Many other roofers would have pushed the envelope and insist the roof be stripped to the decking and may have even replaced the decking without telling us that we had time before completely replacing the roof. Very few would take the time to create the flashing on site out of copper (which will last for about 50 years); I also find it hard to imagine that they would have spent several days chipping out mortar to insure the job was done correctly without an up charge. I am not implying that roofers are out to rip us off, I'm just saying that not many would tell you what work could be safely delayed and what work was critical to fix immediately. For us, these are the only roofers that we will hire to fix out home. And because they only performed the work that was necessary, they gave us the time to save for when the roof does need replacing and saved us from going into debt. This is the company that we choose to work with.

Now we have just purchased the home that these roofers checked out and there is no other company that we would hire. I have never seen a roofing company that was as thorough in investigating the problem as Walter was. I have seen roofers that diagnosis problems without ever climbing on the roof or looking under it. The roof is the largest and the most important surface for protecting a home. If you get a crappy job, you get leaks which can lead to mold, and structural damage. I want to hire the people who will do their best to protect my home. I want them to do the needed repairs now and later down the line I want them to be the company to strip and repair the entire roof.

In the beginning I was impressed by the quick response and appointment to look at the house. But when he got here, he was really vague about how it might be fixed. I told him I had another guy look at it (getting multiple estimates) and he said - well if someone else is going to do it, just let him. I said I wanted an estimate anyway. He agreed and I never heard from him again. What a complete waste of time that was for me.

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The Barnards and their crew exemplify professional and high quality services. They are prompt and their work is superb.

They have been in business a long time. They are the number one slate roof company in central Massachusetts. They are nice and have a good reputation.